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Building With Dominaria’s White Cards [Part 1]

Welcome back everyone! To begin, I wanted to just apologize for the lack of regular content from me in the past two weeks. As the site’s editor it is my responsibility to produce and edit the content others write, and I’ve just been extremely busy. Not to worry though, we will be right back on track starting this week with two Dominaria articles from yours truly! We’ve also been working on other types of content in the meantime, so stay on the lookout in the next couple of weeks.

Without further ado, lets get right into the White cards that excite me from Dominaria, and the decks I’ve built around them.

This card has already been accepted as one of the best in the set by most people, but I haven’t actually seen it slotted into too many decklists. I have a few in mind that will also feature some of my other favorite white cards from this set.

This list is obviously just a start, but I think it is fairy close to something powerful. In this deck, Benalish Marshal, one of my other top White cards, really shines, and I think it may even be worth cutting the Scavenger Grounds to be able to run him out on turn three every time.

The addition of Dauntless Bodyguard to the format is fantastic for this deck, as it provides it with another one drop aside from Legion’s Landing. Dauntless Bodyguard also doesn’t lose that much value after the first few turns, as it can protect a Marshal or a Lyra from getting killed off.

While we’re on the topic Lyra Dawnbringer is also one of my favorite cards from the set, and it has found its way into this deck quite simply because it is one of the scariest threats available to white as of now. The card blocks everything in the format, and hits back super hard, while also gaining us back the life we will lose in our opponent’s next swing. I think there is an argument to be made for Angel of Invention in this slot, but that card dies to basically every burn spell in the format and also Cast Down, so I think Lyra is a much better option here.

Baird, Steward of Argive isn’t that great, but I think the format might be going towards a spot where he is playable, so I included a couple to try him out. It is quite possible that Karn, Scion of Urza is a better fit here, and I wouldn’t be surprised if that were the case.

The final card I want to talk about is Memorial to Glory, which I think could end up being super important in this deck against Control or other grindy matchups. Entering the battlefield tapped is certainly not great, but depending on where the format goes, I think it could really shine.

I haven’t included a sideboard here because I’m not sure how the format is shaping up yet, and for that we’ll have to wait and see. I definitely want some number of Authority of the Consuls and Fragmentize in the board to start.

I think this deck is much closer to a final version than the last deck. This one also incorporates one of my other favorite cards from the set: Shanna, Sisay’s Legacy. Shanna is amazing in this deck, with both Servo Exhibition and Sram’s Expertise pumping her instantly. Shanna also works very well with History of Benalia, with it pumping her when it enters and then again the turn after. In this list, Shanna can attack for three turn three and then five the next turn. She already has hexproof from abilities such as Glorybringer‘s exert or Chandra‘s minus ability. With Shalai giving her complete hexproof, Shanna will run over pretty much anything in her way.

Other than that, the choices in this GW list are pretty stock, with another new card being Lyra Dawnbringer. The Angel is incredibly powerful on her own, and curving Shalai into Lyra puts the former out of Glorybringer and Chandra range, while also basically winning you the game on the spot versus any other aggressive deck.

“Hello there”

The deck’s early game is fantastic, with Appeal often pumping your creatures by 4-5+ and then Authority tapping down their blockers. This is also one of the few decks I can think of that can reasonably beat an active The Scarab God without actually removing it. The deck goes wide, which The Scarab God is not well equipped to battle, and also flies over it, making the card much less effective against this deck than others.

In the late game, Shalai carries you out of basically any board stall, by Gavony Townshiping all your creatures. At that point, all you need is a few alpha strikes or Shalai-Appeal fueled beats in the air to finish the game.

This is the deck I’m personally most excited for in Dominaria Standard, and you can bet I’ll be back in a couple of weeks with an update on how it’s doing.

As always I hope everyone enjoyed the article, and be sure to check in tomorrow for Part 2!